Techies, IT companies are desperately looking for these skills

Artificial and Machine Learning jobs, on the other hand, are in demand, which go largely unfulfilled and some companies are looking at hiring freelancers for higher pay or importing talent from the west as the skill gap is huge.

Chennai: Amid IT layoffs, techies with conventional skills are being handed pink slips.

Artificial and Machine Learning jobs, on the other hand, are in demand, which go largely unfulfilled and some companies are looking at hiring freelancers for higher pay or importing talent from the west as the skill gap is huge.

Chatbot startup Niki.ai has hired three non-resident Indians or foreign nationals from China, UK and the USA in their team. “We have a lean team already, with fewer members who can provide the required skill needed. Since ML is a newly-evolving field, the universities here do not have the syllabus in place yet. It would be a couple of years before we get good talent pool in AI & ML,” said Nitin Babel, co-founder, Niki.ai, who adds that the quality is improving.

Venturesity, a community hiring startup that recruits through hacking sessions finds the need for deserving talent growing. "Companies have been asking to hold AI and ML based hackathons every month, but only close to 30% of the positions are filled with deserving candidates “said Subhendu Panigrahi, co-founder, Venturesity. Panigrahi adds that the company has conducted 5 hackathons so far and a lot of the candidates lack aptitude in mathematics and statistics, which is essential for expertise like this.

Industry sources say that, the entry-level talent is better, whereas only 1 in 20 applicants are up to the mark among the experienced candidates.

Multilingual AI-based startup Vernacular.ai also finds better talent among fresh graduates, who have been sensitised to the future of AI. “For those spots requiring experienced talent, we compromise by hiring software developers who are not as competent and train them,” said Sourabh Gupta, co-founder, Vernacular.ai

Subrat Panda, principal architect at Capillary Technologies, finds fresh graduates from tier 1 colleges -- the IITs and NITs ---competent enough to solve low-level problems, but for vacancies for candidates with an experience of 3 years or higher, for every 20 applications received, 1 fits the bill. “To build talent pool in AI, communities such as Indian Deep Learning Initiative have been helping interested engineers build their capability in machine learning and deep learning. Talks from industry experts and useful links help the community grow, “he added.